Omicron from mice

Omicron, South Africa on November 24th, 2021 Omicron diverged from the lineage roughly in mid-2020 Mutations not found in: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants isolated from three chronically infected patients The variants showed the highest sequence similarities to Omicron Normal rate of mutations in spike protein RNA ∼ mutations per month During missing time for Omicron 27 mutations accumulated in spike protein RNA (in Branch O) during 18 months ∼1.5 mutations per month ∼3.3 times faster than the average rate of other variants First hypothesis Omicron could have ...“cryptically spread” and circulated in a population Second hypothesis Omicron could have evolved in a chronically infected COVID-19 patient Third hypothesis Omicron could have accumulated mutations in a nonhuman host and then jumped into humans Mice Evidence for a mouse

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